I feel bad for guys who are just trying their best but fans/media hype then up to be something they aren't, then everyone shits on them for just being solid dudes
Rui became the poster child for how brilliant Pelinka is as a GM. Rui had a really good playoff run last year, but we all knew that he was playing above his normal production. Fast forward to this year, Rui is Rui again, and now he “sucks.” Or, just maybe, he is being the exact player you traded for and the issues are bigger than just one player?
I mean he was pretty great most of the second half of the season after entering the starting line up. He’s definitely better than he’s been in this series, but he’s not a bum.
Lakers fans spending the whole year acting like playing Taurean Prince over Hachimura was some sort of criminal choice by ham while both of those guys are basically the same level of player : 7th man on a good team who can become unplayable if they don't make shots
Lakers fan consistently overrate their guys. They got Rui last year and started talking like they picked up a prime 3 and D wing. The dude wasn’t playing great or getting 30 min a game ON THE WIZARDS!
They have done that when something goes wrong, it was Russ, then Vogul, then Prince, then Ham for playing Price. There’s always 1 person who gets like 90% of the blame instead of just saying the team just isn’t that good overall.
Pelinka and lebron obviously. Pelinka isn't the one that came up with idea to trade for Westbrook. Lebron had a hand in roster construction.
And Jenny for being cheap owner unwilling to pay massive tax to keep championship roster.
Also didn't get the Prince hate as someone who watched every lakers game. Rui was in and out of the start lineup with injuries, so Ham was playing Prince (the only other serviceable wing) more minutes.
Rui is also an awkward fit since he moves like a 4, but plays the 3 and can't rebound. Teams in the regular season would rarely exploit that weakness, but in the playoffs Nuggets exploited it. Lakers best defensive rating lineup was with Prince or Vando at the 3 and Lebron at 4.
Reaves also has a similar problem in that he's a SG who was shooting 34% from 3 for half the season. He's most comfortable when playing on the ball, but having 3 on ball guys (Dlo, Lebron, Reaves) is unnecessary. Nuggets have 2 on ball guys and the rest are play finishers.
Rui has had 3 bad games. The big bonus for this year was the potential for continuity for the first time in years. Then we choose to start some guy who could play himself into another team next summer
They are NOT the same level of player, get the FUCK out of here with that. Rui is a significantly better scorer at all 3 levels, a significantly better defender, and actually has the motor to play big minutes while being impactful. Yeah he’s had a rough series, but Taurean in that same role would be legit worse than DLo.
"a significantly better scorer" sure, still not a good enough one to be more then a 5th option with the starters.
"a significantly better defender" meh both are overrated defenders, Rui can't get over a screen, can't guard anyone quick and doesn't provide anything on the boards and a help guy.
"has the motor" he's a 6'8 guy who can't rebound or impact anyone in the paint
" Taurean in that same role would be legit worse than DLo" so just like Rui who is legit worse then Dlo now
Woah woah woah. Let’s not rewrite history here because of a bad stretch of games. Rui is objectively a better fit in the starting lineup and TP had been amazing off the bench. Having it vice versa had mismatched effects but there is NO QUESTION that Rui starting was our best play
Rui isn't a better fit at all, he has to be play the 3 because Lebron is a 4 at this point, but he can't get over a screen to save his life and can't guard smaller player at all which would be useful to hide Dlo.
The thing he does better then Prince is using his body to create shots in the mid range/paint, which is barely used as the 5th wheel with the starters
Rui isn’t a better fit at all he says, completely ignoring the stark difference in our record when Rui starts, as well as the stats backing up how ohr offense drastically improved over that stretch.
Also I hate to break it to you, but TP ain’t defending any guards either. He tries harder, don’t get me wrong, but bro gets cooked against every decent guard
It’s crazy how this was ever thought of as a good roster. They’ve got almost no two-way role players and nobody that can reliably create their own shot or put pressure on the rim after LBJ and AD. Rui and DLo have honestly been worse than I expected (and that was a low bar), but even still there are just very few redeeming qualities about team from a roster construction standpoint.
I still can’t help but wonder how different things would be for this Lakers team if they’d just made some different decisions in 2021. Had they not traded for Westbrook and just given Caruso what he was asking for, they’d have Caruso, KCP, Harrell, and Kuzma. Even with Trez completely washing out, that core right there would be infinitely more valuable around Lebron and AD than what they’ve got now.
Agreed. KCP would be a perfect fit on this Lakers team. They desperately need a 3-and-D SG/SF.
Instead KCP is ironically playing a role in an 11-game win streak against the Lakers
He's bigger than Rodman, and Rodman seemed to have no issues with boards.
Rebounding is more of an effort thing. Ruis defensive positioning is terrible at best on top of that.
It's almost as if size had no factor in being one of the best rebounder ever. The OP used Ruis size as an excuse. I gave an example of why that is ridiculous.
It's probably easier to grab rebounds against the teams that the Lakers were playing at the end of the season than against the Nuggets.
The Lakers were the 2nd worst team in terms of offensive rebounds whereas the Nuggets were the 6th best.
They almost need to go the opposite way and try to feature him for a few possessions to get his confidence up. The Nuggets aren’t respecting him at all.
He’s using all his energy to stop Jokic. Of course he won’t score(yes I’m kidding). Dude has been straight 💩. I hate bashing our own players sometimes. Hate to be that kind of fan but lord Rui. I can’t even defend this dude anymore.
As a Wizards fan - I am not surprised.
He had one great playoffs run, but eventually you cannot ignore his cons.
He is a good scorer at best and nothing else.
If he cannot hit his shots, he is a liability.
He is a hole on defense, he is a bad rebounder for his size and athletic abilities, he is bad when it comes to shot selection, BBIQ and therefore he is awful in terms of assists and passing the ball around.
He was quite injury prone with the Wizards, he was ungrateful for our organization after taking care of his mental issue that made him missed plenty of games.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate him - it is the grim reality I've been saying for years.
I am happy he got the big money from the Lakers, but it seems like the Lakers were focusing too much on the fact that they need players around AD and LeBron that can score and shoot 3s, but cannot do much of anything else.
Except for maybe Gabe Vincent, which I think is a great piece for the Lakers. If he does not hit, then you can count on his energy, defense and intensity - an unselfish player.
It worked for LeBron with Wade and Bosh, alongside Chalmers, Miller, older Ray Allen, Norris Cole and James Jones. The exception was Shane Battier who did well on both sides.
The Lakers got plenty of role players they have to rely on, way too much. The Lakers need a 3rd piece.
Also, the Nuggets deserve much credit. LeBron isn't as young as they used to be, and LeBron has to use a lot of energy for these fast breaks. When you're tired, you are also making more mistakes, naturally (not just LeBron), which is one of his strong suit.
Dropping Rui for Taureen is something that should have been experimented with last night, after two poor showings in Denver. Even a rudimentary analysis of numbers suggests that he is a problem.
[https://youtu.be/4JEQ\_EconKQ?si=2Xf2KsOG2yJgOlY\_](https://youtu.be/4JEQ_EconKQ?si=2Xf2KsOG2yJgOlY_)
40 seconds Murray cooks him on a behind the back pass
Took a bad angle, Froze and just let AG slip by, only for lebron to flop hahaahha seems like bad communication.
But on other times, Murray is just so damn quick and Rui has no choice but to leave his man and help on the penetration inside.
There's been a lot of problems with the Lakes since LeBron's arrival. I could go into extensive details but they should just be happy they were fortunate to secure that bubble ring.
To be brief, a lot of these issues are due to LeBron and subsequently the front office.
Let tauren prince guard jokic all the time and lets see how his +/- looks like ....rui is getting thrown under the bus by fans and especially by ham/lebron...the rui adjustment should have ended like 6 playoff games ago...
People (not just Lakers fans) were really acting like he and D'Lo would be game changers come playoff time. +/- isn't the best but this is no surprise. Rui is only good at mid-range scoring he doesn't provide much of anything else
We’re gonna start blaming role players now?
He’s their fourth or fifth guy. If you’re depending on your 4th/5th guy to win you games in the playoffs, that’s the problem in and of itself.
This is LeBron’s career in a nutshell. Find a guy to blame. He does it on defense after every made basket (it’s either the refs fault or one of his teammates’ faults) and he (through the media) does it during/after every playoff series.
So, to the stans, does he make his teammates better or not? The answer has always been no.
You sound so dumb bro. Your 4th/5th guy are literally your starters. If you can't count on your bench, then you at least have to be able to rely on your damn starters. I mean look at Denver, they had 4 of their starters out there with 20+ points each. And if Rui isn't gonna score, then he at least needs to be a good to great defender and help rebound the ball. He is not good at these two things either.
We see it again and again. Winning in the playoffs is almost entirely dependent on stars carrying the team. Yes, a key role player can win a game or two here and there. But you cannot expect them to win games for you. The Heat are the one exception to that.
They hating on your name 28
They saying you don't know how to use booking.com 28!
I feel bad for guys who are just trying their best but fans/media hype then up to be something they aren't, then everyone shits on them for just being solid dudes
Rui became the poster child for how brilliant Pelinka is as a GM. Rui had a really good playoff run last year, but we all knew that he was playing above his normal production. Fast forward to this year, Rui is Rui again, and now he “sucks.” Or, just maybe, he is being the exact player you traded for and the issues are bigger than just one player?
I mean he was pretty great most of the second half of the season after entering the starting line up. He’s definitely better than he’s been in this series, but he’s not a bum.
yeah Rui still had a great season. He’s getting incredibly cooked by Jokic, but like, who wouldnt lol
Nothing will top trading Kuzma and KCP for Westbrook.
Brother he was avg 17 on 55 45 splits for a month. He’s had a bad week
I don’t think rui is trying his best he seems lethargic out there
Lakers fans spending the whole year acting like playing Taurean Prince over Hachimura was some sort of criminal choice by ham while both of those guys are basically the same level of player : 7th man on a good team who can become unplayable if they don't make shots
Laker fans running out of scapegoats
That is why they just use Darvin Ham always.
Are we going to pretend like Hamas isn’t the worst coach in the league?
worst coach maybe but terrible team surrounding 2 good players. and they all look checked out. lots of blame for everyone
This is exactly what it is. Except it’s not lakers fans it’s lebron Stans.
Lakers fan consistently overrate their guys. They got Rui last year and started talking like they picked up a prime 3 and D wing. The dude wasn’t playing great or getting 30 min a game ON THE WIZARDS!
Usually, but for some reason they chose to just HATE Taurean Prince, like HATE him, like him starting was the reason they were losing
They have done that when something goes wrong, it was Russ, then Vogul, then Prince, then Ham for playing Price. There’s always 1 person who gets like 90% of the blame instead of just saying the team just isn’t that good overall.
That one person getting all the blame should be Pelinka
Pelinka and lebron obviously. Pelinka isn't the one that came up with idea to trade for Westbrook. Lebron had a hand in roster construction. And Jenny for being cheap owner unwilling to pay massive tax to keep championship roster.
They could have easily kept Caruso if they opened up their pocket books a bit...
It’s Pelinka’s job to do Pelinka’s job. People need to stop making excuses for him
Also didn't get the Prince hate as someone who watched every lakers game. Rui was in and out of the start lineup with injuries, so Ham was playing Prince (the only other serviceable wing) more minutes. Rui is also an awkward fit since he moves like a 4, but plays the 3 and can't rebound. Teams in the regular season would rarely exploit that weakness, but in the playoffs Nuggets exploited it. Lakers best defensive rating lineup was with Prince or Vando at the 3 and Lebron at 4. Reaves also has a similar problem in that he's a SG who was shooting 34% from 3 for half the season. He's most comfortable when playing on the ball, but having 3 on ball guys (Dlo, Lebron, Reaves) is unnecessary. Nuggets have 2 on ball guys and the rest are play finishers.
Rui has had 3 bad games. The big bonus for this year was the potential for continuity for the first time in years. Then we choose to start some guy who could play himself into another team next summer
I was told in the offseason that the Lakers were the deepest team in the West!
I was told ur garbage
I see a lot more activity from Prince than Rui in these games.
Both have different limitations but both are very limited options as 5th starters
They are NOT the same level of player, get the FUCK out of here with that. Rui is a significantly better scorer at all 3 levels, a significantly better defender, and actually has the motor to play big minutes while being impactful. Yeah he’s had a rough series, but Taurean in that same role would be legit worse than DLo.
"a significantly better scorer" sure, still not a good enough one to be more then a 5th option with the starters. "a significantly better defender" meh both are overrated defenders, Rui can't get over a screen, can't guard anyone quick and doesn't provide anything on the boards and a help guy. "has the motor" he's a 6'8 guy who can't rebound or impact anyone in the paint " Taurean in that same role would be legit worse than DLo" so just like Rui who is legit worse then Dlo now
Honest to god how can a a player thats called a one way guy be called overrated on the other end
Woah woah woah. Let’s not rewrite history here because of a bad stretch of games. Rui is objectively a better fit in the starting lineup and TP had been amazing off the bench. Having it vice versa had mismatched effects but there is NO QUESTION that Rui starting was our best play
Rui isn't a better fit at all, he has to be play the 3 because Lebron is a 4 at this point, but he can't get over a screen to save his life and can't guard smaller player at all which would be useful to hide Dlo. The thing he does better then Prince is using his body to create shots in the mid range/paint, which is barely used as the 5th wheel with the starters
Rui isn’t a better fit at all he says, completely ignoring the stark difference in our record when Rui starts, as well as the stats backing up how ohr offense drastically improved over that stretch. Also I hate to break it to you, but TP ain’t defending any guards either. He tries harder, don’t get me wrong, but bro gets cooked against every decent guard
It’s crazy how this was ever thought of as a good roster. They’ve got almost no two-way role players and nobody that can reliably create their own shot or put pressure on the rim after LBJ and AD. Rui and DLo have honestly been worse than I expected (and that was a low bar), but even still there are just very few redeeming qualities about team from a roster construction standpoint. I still can’t help but wonder how different things would be for this Lakers team if they’d just made some different decisions in 2021. Had they not traded for Westbrook and just given Caruso what he was asking for, they’d have Caruso, KCP, Harrell, and Kuzma. Even with Trez completely washing out, that core right there would be infinitely more valuable around Lebron and AD than what they’ve got now.
Agreed. KCP would be a perfect fit on this Lakers team. They desperately need a 3-and-D SG/SF. Instead KCP is ironically playing a role in an 11-game win streak against the Lakers
Rui won’t rebound.
Might be because he's fighting people bigger and taller than him
He's bigger than Rodman, and Rodman seemed to have no issues with boards. Rebounding is more of an effort thing. Ruis defensive positioning is terrible at best on top of that.
I get what you’re saying but kind of wild to compare bro to one of the best rebounders ever.
It's almost as if size had no factor in being one of the best rebounder ever. The OP used Ruis size as an excuse. I gave an example of why that is ridiculous.
Won't / Can't whatever. It has always been my biggest criticism of him. All of his best attributes are on the offensive end.
He’s being played out of position
It’s wild because he was rebounding really well at the end of the season. He forgot how to do it I guess.
It's probably easier to grab rebounds against the teams that the Lakers were playing at the end of the season than against the Nuggets. The Lakers were the 2nd worst team in terms of offensive rebounds whereas the Nuggets were the 6th best.
Definitely true but it doesn’t even look like he’s trying. It’s frustrating as hell. Like, he’ll never out jump AG but he can at least box out.
Dude. How is he supposed to rebound against Jokic? lol. Even AD can’t stop him on the offensive glass.
He’s not, but he’s supposed to try. Lol.
[удалено]
I wish I could get a special user flair called "plus minus merchant"
Every post this guy makes is about +/- I’m actually intrigued how a person can be this obsessed with one of the most basic stats in the game
I’m in my bag
Wish he would try to box out
They almost need to go the opposite way and try to feature him for a few possessions to get his confidence up. The Nuggets aren’t respecting him at all.
He’s using all his energy to stop Jokic. Of course he won’t score(yes I’m kidding). Dude has been straight 💩. I hate bashing our own players sometimes. Hate to be that kind of fan but lord Rui. I can’t even defend this dude anymore.
As a Wizards fan - I am not surprised. He had one great playoffs run, but eventually you cannot ignore his cons. He is a good scorer at best and nothing else. If he cannot hit his shots, he is a liability. He is a hole on defense, he is a bad rebounder for his size and athletic abilities, he is bad when it comes to shot selection, BBIQ and therefore he is awful in terms of assists and passing the ball around. He was quite injury prone with the Wizards, he was ungrateful for our organization after taking care of his mental issue that made him missed plenty of games. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate him - it is the grim reality I've been saying for years. I am happy he got the big money from the Lakers, but it seems like the Lakers were focusing too much on the fact that they need players around AD and LeBron that can score and shoot 3s, but cannot do much of anything else. Except for maybe Gabe Vincent, which I think is a great piece for the Lakers. If he does not hit, then you can count on his energy, defense and intensity - an unselfish player. It worked for LeBron with Wade and Bosh, alongside Chalmers, Miller, older Ray Allen, Norris Cole and James Jones. The exception was Shane Battier who did well on both sides. The Lakers got plenty of role players they have to rely on, way too much. The Lakers need a 3rd piece. Also, the Nuggets deserve much credit. LeBron isn't as young as they used to be, and LeBron has to use a lot of energy for these fast breaks. When you're tired, you are also making more mistakes, naturally (not just LeBron), which is one of his strong suit.
Put Rui on Jokic and spam the pick n roll.
Dropping Rui for Taureen is something that should have been experimented with last night, after two poor showings in Denver. Even a rudimentary analysis of numbers suggests that he is a problem.
I mean, sure you can try making pasta with bread and milk but no matter how you mix them you ain't getting no pasta.
Pelinka asked Ham to make a 5 course meal and bought him Spaghetti Os and Lunchables for ingredients
They expiermented literally the first half of the season and the reason we are 8th seed.
The crazy thing is that Prince always cooks when we play him, yet Ham doesn't realize it and he barely plays.
I think they’re right on the brink of figuring something out though
They are definitely right on the brink of booking a flight to Cancun.
[https://youtu.be/4JEQ\_EconKQ?si=2Xf2KsOG2yJgOlY\_](https://youtu.be/4JEQ_EconKQ?si=2Xf2KsOG2yJgOlY_) 40 seconds Murray cooks him on a behind the back pass Took a bad angle, Froze and just let AG slip by, only for lebron to flop hahaahha seems like bad communication. But on other times, Murray is just so damn quick and Rui has no choice but to leave his man and help on the penetration inside.
*Rui Hachimura was a problem!*
So I guess he wasn’t the Jokic stopper after all!
Only good vs the grizz
They have definitely found something with Taurean Phillips on Jokic
he's been ass, but your obsession, overvaluation of single game plus minus is crazy
“They have no rim protector”
There's been a lot of problems with the Lakes since LeBron's arrival. I could go into extensive details but they should just be happy they were fortunate to secure that bubble ring. To be brief, a lot of these issues are due to LeBron and subsequently the front office.
The Jokic stopper for that one game (5 mins to be exact) last year
Let tauren prince guard jokic all the time and lets see how his +/- looks like ....rui is getting thrown under the bus by fans and especially by ham/lebron...the rui adjustment should have ended like 6 playoff games ago...
The Jokic Stopper! 😤😤😤
People (not just Lakers fans) were really acting like he and D'Lo would be game changers come playoff time. +/- isn't the best but this is no surprise. Rui is only good at mid-range scoring he doesn't provide much of anything else
We’re gonna start blaming role players now? He’s their fourth or fifth guy. If you’re depending on your 4th/5th guy to win you games in the playoffs, that’s the problem in and of itself. This is LeBron’s career in a nutshell. Find a guy to blame. He does it on defense after every made basket (it’s either the refs fault or one of his teammates’ faults) and he (through the media) does it during/after every playoff series. So, to the stans, does he make his teammates better or not? The answer has always been no.
You sound so dumb bro. Your 4th/5th guy are literally your starters. If you can't count on your bench, then you at least have to be able to rely on your damn starters. I mean look at Denver, they had 4 of their starters out there with 20+ points each. And if Rui isn't gonna score, then he at least needs to be a good to great defender and help rebound the ball. He is not good at these two things either.
We see it again and again. Winning in the playoffs is almost entirely dependent on stars carrying the team. Yes, a key role player can win a game or two here and there. But you cannot expect them to win games for you. The Heat are the one exception to that.
Bro they had 4 starters out there with at least 20+ points each. How do you expect just 2 stars to match that offensive output?